Georges Adéagbo

Beninese artist Georges Adéagbo (born 1942) began his professional life studying law and business in France―until his father’s death in 1971 brought a halt to his degree, requiring him to return to Benin and assume his father’s patriarchal duties. Frustrated, disoriented and faced with the strictures of traditional Beninese life, Adéagbo began to create “constellations” in his garden, combining found objects with his own handwritten notes. After working in solitude for more than 20 years, in the mid-1990s he was invited to present a first show of his work in France, and since then, he has been exhibited in museums and biennials worldwide. Adéagbo’s work is often exhibition-driven: a theme is selected, an extensive research process begins in the artist’s archive, which ultimately yields complex assemblage-installations. For this monograph, Adéago addresses the theme of “The Mission and the Missionaries,” using historical and personal materials such as books, magazines, photographs and textiles.